


Familiar Yet Strange

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Following, Warehouse 13
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Het, Background Slash, Comment Fic, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-18
Updated: 2013-08-18
Packaged: 2017-12-23 22:13:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/931656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam thought Jersey only had a sister, until he meets Mike.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Familiar Yet Strange

**Author's Note:**

> For the comment fic prompt - The Following/Warehouse 13, Mike and Liam, he thought Jersey only had a sister

"So... I take it you know my brother."

Liam looks up in surprise when he hears the voice by his side, familiar and yet strange. His stomach swims a little, which has nothing to do with the aroma of hospital coffee from the cup in the speaker's hand and everything to do with the speaker himself. He looks into the face of Mike Weston - once again, familiar, yet strange - and the sensation he feels is a little bit like vertigo, the same sensation he's been feeling all day, ever since he walked into a DC hospital at the ass crack of dawn and saw him there. He thought he'd done a good job of covering it up. Obviously not. 

"What gave me away?" he asks and Mike grins, which puts Liam on safer ground. The smile was the first thing he'd noticed as definitely different. 

"You did a hard double take when you came in here this morning," Mike tells him, which Liam can't deny. "I thought it was because we both look like hell." He casts an eye into the hospital room, at the still figure lying on the bed. "It was Debra who pointed out you couldn't stop sneaking looks at me... That's when I figured out it's been so long since I saw the twin double take that I didn't recognise it anymore."

Liam shakes his head. "Steve only ever mentioned a sister," he says, and the flash of pain in Mike's eyes is all too familiar. 

"Two other brothers," Mike says and Liam just nods, no longer surprised. He's been wondering all day how much Steve kept from him. "We're not exactly the Cleavers." He takes a sip of coffee. "You seen him lately?"

Liam shakes his head, surprised at the pang of longing that sweeps through him. He'd thought he was getting over Steve - this surprise reassignment had put paid to that idea. "We split up a while ago," he says, too late realising that Mike hadn't necessarily known they were together but Mike doesn't look shocked. "What gave me away?"

Mike chuckles, glances again at the sleeping figure in the bed. "Debra actually kept telling me you were checking me out," he says and Liam feels his cheeks darken. "Don't worry... I'll tell her everything, when we get a chance to talk properly." 

Because hospital rooms with constant traffic and constant surveillance aren't the best place for that, Liam knows, and he also knows that these two have a long period of protective custody ahead of them. After the attack on Ryan Hardy and Claire Matthews, the brass had scrambled to reassign people to protection duty, figuring they were more likely to get uncompromised agents that way - paranoia, at the moment, reigns supreme. Which is why Liam had arrived in DC for the first time in years that morning and promptly felt his heart break all over again the moment he saw his charges. 

"Besides," Mike says after a moment, softer this time. "I know Steve's type. Brunettes... almost the same as mine." A smile plays around his lips this time as he looks across the room at Debra Parker and the look on his face is so familiar, so heartbreakingly similar to Steve, that Liam has to look away. 

"How long have you been together?" he asks in an effort to distract himself from his memories. 

"About three weeks." Mike's answer has Liam doing another hard double take and Mike makes no effort to hide his amusement. "It moved kinda quickly," he allows. "The case..." His voice chokes and he tries to cover it up by raising his cup of coffee to his lips. Liam's close enough to see the tremble of his hand though, to see his jaw working hard as he struggles to keep his composure. He says nothing, waits for Mike to speak again, and when he does, his voice is quiet, serious. 

"It's weird," he says. "If I'd met you a couple months ago, I'd've told you I hated Steve." He shakes his head, lips pursed in a way that Liam knows very well - it's the exact look Steve gets when he's about to admit something that he doesn't really want to admit. "But after everything..." Liam doesn't have to be told what that means: he'd been briefed on why Debra was in the hospital, why she and Mike were both supposed to be dead, about the protective custody necessary should anyone decide to finish the job. "It's funny how life can change your perspective, that's all."

"Steve's..." Now it's Liam's turn for his voice to fail him. "He's a good guy," he's finally able to conclude. "Maybe when all this is over..."

Mike shakes his head. "We don't know how long that's going to be," he says and when Liam looks into his eyes, he knows what the other man is thinking - Joe Carroll cast a wide net; protective custody could be an indefinite arrangement. "Besides... I'm not so sure he'd want to hear from me."

Liam's got no insight into that so he doesn't address it. What he does say is, "If I see him before you do..." Which is pretty damn unlikely, the way that Steve had left, but Mike doesn't know that. "I'll pass on what you said."

Mike blinks but then smiles. "I'd appreciate that." Just then, there's a moan from inside the hospital room and Mike is away in an instant, pushing his coffee at Liam and going to the bed, standing over Debra and taking her hand in his. His free hand brushes her hair back and he is talking to her, voice so low Liam can't hear him but he can see it's working, can see that it's calming Debra. 

He can't look at Mike though, not when he's looking down at Debra the way that he is. Because it's so close to the way that Steve used to look at him,  yet it's not and neither Liam's head nor his heart can handle the distinction. 

Reaching into his pocket, he takes out his cell phone, scrolls until he finds the entry he's looking for, under J for Jersey. He's ready to press the call button but stops himself, mindful of who might be listening. He's here for a reason, after all, so he can't call now. 

But maybe someday soon. 


End file.
